India, UK set up 3 new bilateral trade working groups

India and the UK have agreed to set up three new bilateral working groups to tackle barriers to trade in specific sectors of food and drink, healthcare and data services as part of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting in London on Monday.

The three new business-led working groups will be run by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) alongside the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

What makes JETCO so important is that it is more than just a government to government bilateral, there is the direct involvement of business," UKIBC Chief Operation Officer (COO) Kevin McCole told PTI in an interview.

Today saw the launch of three new bilateral business-led working groups to take deep dive into the issues, from a business perspective, and make recommendations to ministers on how to unlock remaining barriers to trade in food and drink, life sciences and healthcare, and digital and data services, he said.

The purpose of JETCO is to identify, and find solutions to, non-tariff barriers to trade.

The Joint Trade Review, launched in November 2016, has made good progress – bilateral trade grew 22 per cent in 2018, against the average of 8.8 per cent per annum since 2002, McCole said.